Moldy MHU ruins flood victim's belongings

BATON ROUGE - Another blow for a flood victim who's manufactured housing unit has become a haven for mold.

Monique Commodore says the mold has been festering for a couple weeks. She's watched as the mold has taken over her personal belongings.

"More and more mold, everywhere," she said.

As Commodore walks around her two-bedroom MHU, she opens cabinets where green mold has grown up and down the inside of the doors. Her son's shoes have mold growing on them and she spots a never before seen spore on the back of a kitchen chair.

"Everything is wet," said Commodore. "For the second time in 10 months."

As she picks up each ruined item from food to her son's Xbox controller, she explains how something malfunctioned with her air conditioning unit. On June 2, Commodore says she called the FEMA maintenance line and someone visited the MHU to exchange and air filter. Shortly after, she noticed the fan was turning on constantly, bringing hot, humid air from outside to inside for hours on end.

Right now, she's preparing to move out. Commodore is packing what's salvageable into boxes. Her home off Florida Blvd. is still a construction zone and her family isn't ready to move back in.

"So within 10 months, I save up, work, buy everything over again and lost it for the second time," she said.

FEMA tells 2 On Your Side it's been discussing options with Commodore from the onset of her complaint. At first, she declined options given to her. After reaching out to both parties, 2 On Your Side found there had been a communication issue, which has since been resolved.

FEMA has offered to professionally clean Commodore's clothing. The plan is to swap out her MHU and in the meantime, Commodore has been offered to stay at a hotel and Friday afternoon agreed to these offers.

FEMA says it works with and is concerned about all applicants. Working problems out satisfactorily is something it does each day.